Emma Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here on the Crosby County plains, there's a piece of ground that holds more history than its quiet appearance lets on. Emma Cemetery.

It started with a grave. Back in 1891, a man named J. W.

Holt donated land, right here, so that his brother-in-law, Levi Jones, could be laid to rest properly. That's the seed of it. One man's grief, one generous piece of earth, and a cemetery was born.

From that single grave, the ground took on a life of its own, the way these places do on the frontier. Over time, Emma Cemetery became the final resting place of twelve Civil War veterans. Twelve men who had lived through that war, made their way out to the Texas plains, and found this corner of Crosby County to be home enough to stay in forever.

And then there are H. C. and Elizabeth Smith, the county's first settlers, both of them buried here. H.

C. Smith died in 1912, Elizabeth in 1925. The county's very first.

That's not a small thing to carry. Now, land donated for love doesn't always stay tidy in its legal arrangements, and so in 1917, R. L. and R.

R. Travis bought the land and deeded it over to Crosby County, making it official, making it permanent. Twelve veterans, the county's founding family, and it all traces back to one man who simply needed a place to bury someone he loved.

That's how a cemetery earns its ground.

What the marker says

Burial site of 12 Civil War veterans and County's first settlers, H. C. and Elizabeth Smith (died 1912 and 1925). Established in 1891 on land donated by J. W. Holt for the grave of his brother-in-law, Levi Jones. Land was bought by R. L. and R. R. Travis and deeded to Crosby County in 1917. 1968